Honor Tradition, Embrace Change™

Throughout the challenges of
floods, fires, tornadoes and even Prohibition, the American family owned
Buffalo Trace Distillery has never compromised.
A timeless dedication to respecting the past while
fearlessly innovating for the future has served us well for more
than two centuries. No matter the challenge, be it
mother nature or man, the people of our Distillery
have been part of the story that shaped America
and the spirit industry as well.

To explore our history, click and drag

1771

Daniel Boone passes through Lee's Town on the buffalo trace

1773

McAfee brothers and Hancock Taylor survey the Lee's Town site; Kentucky is known as Fincastle County, part of Virginia

1786Hancock Lee receives title to the land at Lee's Town

1792

Kentucky becomes the 15th state in the Union

1792

Commodore Richard Taylor builds "The Old Taylor House"; the one-story stone house is still on the site today

1811

A three-story stone warehouse is built on the Kentucky River near Riverside to store goods, including many barrels of whiskey, awaiting shipment to as far away as New Orleans; Benjamin Harrison Blanton is said to distill on site in upcoming years

1858

A small but up-to-date distillery is developed by Daniel Swigert using warehouse and Riverside site

1870

Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr. purchases the Distillery and christens it "O. F. C." – in reference to the belief that the finest whiskey was produced in old-fashioned wood-fired copper stillsLearn more about E.H. Taylor Jr.

1872

E. H. Taylor, Jr. invests over $70,000, a "small fortune," as he builds a new distillery on the site

1878

The O.F.C. Distillery is purchased by George T. Stagg along with the adjacent livestock farm; Taylor continues to oversee operations Learn more about George T. Stagg

1881

Warehouse A and Warehouse B are built; still standing today

1882

Lightning strikes and burns the O.F.C. Distillery in "The Great Fire;" it is rebuilt immediately in a yet grander manner at a cost of $44,000 over and above the insurance collected

1883

The newly rebuilt distillery included a large mashing and fermenting wing which remains intact today as the Dickel Building

1885

The Construction of Warehouse C, still standing today, completes Taylor’s vision for his "Model Distillery Plant of the World"

1886

Steam heating system for the warehouses is installed, making this the first Distillery to use steam heat which is still in use today